1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for the consolidated shipment and distribution of ordered items to one or more users by utilizing authorized outlets and for the return of items from authorized outlets.
2. Description of Related Art
When ordering an item a customer will generally place an order with a vendor. The vendor will fulfill the order from their on-hand inventory, package the order and ship it (individually) to the customer's residence or business.
This method of order fulfillment has several drawbacks. It is a highly labor-intensive process and one in which many vendors may not be adequately equipped to handle. Individual fulfillment of each order and separate shipment to a residence can be expensive because of the packaging labor and material for each order and the higher residential shipping rates.
To address some of the problems some entities began to aggregate multiple customer orders from a localized area, consolidate the multiple orders into as few shipping containers as possible, and deliver them to a common location near the customers for pick-up. Such systems are described in the following publications.
U.S. patent application Ser. No.: 09/765,769, “Order Aggregation System for International Shipments,” filed Jan. 18, 2001 by Paulose et al. claiming benefit of a provisional application filed Jan. 18, 2000, and published Oct. 4, 2001 describes an aggregation system for aggregating multiple orders from different customers into a single shipment. It describes a method of aggregating products for international shipment to customers (presumably retail customers although this is not stated in the application). The application discloses a product delivered to a shipping location combined with other product to be shipped in the same shipment in a single shipping container. However, it does not contemplate the distribution of the product at an authorized outlet.
U.S. patent application Ser. No.: 09/791,481, “Electronic Marketplace Providing Service Parts Inventory Planning and Management,” filed Feb. 22, 2001 by Yang et al. and assigned to i2 Technologies, Inc., claiming benefit of a provisional application filed Feb. 22, 2000, and published on Oct. 25, 2001 describes a system used for service parts logistics. The application discloses distributors maintaining service parts inventory within supply chains such that they can supply service parts to one or more customers at a suitable level in response to demand from customers. Each distributor may have a multi-echelon supply chain with larger more centralized distribution centers supplying smaller more geographically dispersed distribution centers. However, the consolidated shipment and tracking of the service parts is not contemplated. The '481 application also describes the return of service parts that are processed through a ‘reverse logistics’ or other returns supply chain for eventual insertion back into the supply chain. Typically, a customer will return service parts to the particular distribution center from which the service parts were originally supplied.
U.S. patent application Ser. No.: 09/855,558, “Method and Apparatus for Effective Distribution and Delivery of Goods Ordered on the World Wide Web,” filed May 16, 2001 by Tuttrup et al. claiming the benefit of a provisional application filed Jul. 7, 2000, and published on Mar. 28, 2002 describes a method for delivering goods ordered by a plurality of customers. The method includes the steps of a plurality of customers placing orders for goods from a vendor; the vendor fulfilling its orders by combining into a single shipping order the goods ordered by a plurality of customers who are geographically close to a single local pick-up; and the vendor causing the single shipping order to be sent to a local pick-up point. The '558 application does not contemplate the use of an inventory management service to fulfill orders nor is an authorized outlet where distribution of the ordered goods described.
U.S. patent application Ser. No.: 09/758,943, “Single Courier Modelfor the Delivery of Goods Ordered by the Internet,” filed Jan. 10, 2001 by Huxter as a continuation-in-part of an application filed Dec. 1, 2000, and published on Aug. 8, 2002, describes the use of an automated collection point for delivering goods. The system may segregate pending deliveries into groups, with each group of deliveries assigned to a distinct automated collection point. In embodiments of the invention, the groups are selected so that the customers corresponding to each group reside within the vicinity of the corresponding collection point. However, the use of tracking and control systems is not described, nor is the distribution of orders at attended authorized outlets.
The above inventions generally disclose systems and methods of shipping and distributing goods from a vendor to a customer. Some describe the use of a common, localized collection point for collection of the ordered items by the customers. In order to track such consolidated shipments, each customer with an individual order in the consolidated shipment would have to be provided the tracking number of the consolidated shipping container. However, there would be no assurance to the customer that their order was actually in the consolidated shipment until it is opened at the local distribution center. Furthermore, an inventory management service company or other service parts provider may want confirmation that a customer for billing and other purposes has received an order. Such confirmation is not available in the previously described systems.
Therefore, systems and methods are needed to address the challenges associated with the selection, aggregation, sortation, consolidation, shipment, tracking, control, and distribution of items ordered by a customer and the return of items that are exchanged for new or replacement devices.